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Thursday, March 28, 2024

UK health workers begin hydroxychloroquine trial

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UK health workers begin hydroxychloroquine trial
UK health workers begin hydroxychloroquine trial

British healthcare workers will on Thursday begin taking part in a University of Oxford-led international trial of two anti-malarial drugs to see if they can prevent COVID-19, including one U.S. President Donald Trump says he has been taking.

Olivia Chan reports.

EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: ORIGINAL EDIT CONTAINED SHOTS OF A LAB UNRELATED TO THE ANTI-MALARIAL DRUGS MENTIONED IN THE STORY.

THEY HAVE BEEN REPLACED BY STILLS OF THE RELEVANT ANTI-MALARIAL DRUGS.

British healthcare workers will begin taking part in a trial on Thursday (May 21) to determine if two anti-malarial drugs can prevent COVID-19.

It includes chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, the same drug which U.S. President Donald Trump says he is taking.

The "COPCOV" trial is an international study led by the University of Oxford, with support of a tropical medicine unit in Bangkok.

It will be open to British participants who are in close contact with patients with proven or suspected COVID-19... ...with a total of 25 study sites expected to open in the UK by the end of June.

Plans have been put in place for further test sites in Southeast Asia, Italy, Portugal, Africa, and South America.

Forty-thousand frontline healthcare workers will be involved.

So far, the COPCOV team says lab evidence showed these drugs might be effective in preventing or treating coronavirus, but there was no conclusive proof.

The best way to find out its effectiveness is in a randomized clinical trial.

The results are expected by the end of this year.

U.S. regulators have authorized the emergency use of hydroxychloroquine... But the authorities has also warned against the use of it in COVID-19 patients outside of the hospital or clinical trials due to the risk of serious heart rhythm problems.

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